und himself,
shut up in this lonely building in the heart of the desert with a
handful of souls for whose safety he could not but feel himself largely
responsible.

He did not attempt to disguise from himself that the outlook was
decidedly unpromising. Even though Sir Richard reached Cairo without
mishap, some time must necessarily elapse before he could gather
together what Iris had called the relieving force; and although Anstice
had no reason to doubt the staunchness and courage of his
fellow-defenders, he could not fail to realize that as a fighting unit
they were altogether outmatched by the two or three score of enemies who
were by now, apparently, thirsting savagely for their blood.

Then, too, the shadow of death already hovered over the little garrison;
and as Anstice turned once more to survey the pale and wasted features
of the man who had supplanted him in the one supreme desire of his life,
he told himself that it would be a miracle if Bruce Cheniston lived long
enough to see the arrival of the help on which so much depended.

"If I had got here a week--three days ago, I might have done something,"
he told himself rather hopelessly. "But now I'm very much afraid it is
too late. He is going to die, I'm pretty sure of that, though I hope to
God I may be mistaken; and heaven only knows what will happen in the
course of the next three days."

As he reached this point in his meditations a voice in his ear made him
start; and turning, he beheld a pale and distraught-looking young woman
who might in happier circumstances have laid claim to a certain
uninspired prettiness. At this moment, however, her eyes red-rimmed with
lack of sleep, her ashy-coloured hair limp and dishevelled round her
unintellectual forehead, she was rather a piteous object; and in spite
of his resolve to speak bracingly to her Anstice's voice was quite
gentle as he replied to her murmured question.

"Yes, I am Dr. Anstice, and I want you to be good enough to sit here and
look after Mr. Cheniston while I talk over matters with the other
gentlemen."

"Yes, sir." She cast a swift look at the bed, and then hastily averted
her pale-brown eyes. "Mr. Cheniston--he--he won't die, will he, sir? I
mean, not immediate, like?"

"No, he will not die immediately," said Anstice reassuringly. "All you
have to do is to sit here, beside the bed"--he had noticed how she kept
her distance from the aforesaid bed, and placed her in the chair he had
vacate